Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Ch12 Rewrite
by fanfics4life
Summary: Chapters 1-11 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows lead up to this point. My chapter 12 changes the story after that because a mysterious new charecter is introduced into Harry, Ron, and Hermione's search for horcrux's.


_Filler/replacement chapter for Chapter 12 "Magic is Might": HP7-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™_

The weeks at Sirius's place, the Order's previous headquarters, were beginning to take a toll on Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The restlessness and anxiety had no output because they had no plan. No leads. Nothing. Wedges had begun pushing themselves between the three; driving their need to work together below the surface and dragged out the desire to be alone against rational judgment. Every evening around 11 a slurred "night" was uttered between them, but never any feeling behind the thought: it was now just force of habit. They would then get out the sleeping bags and pillows and lay down for the night. The setup was simple enough: two couches facing each other, Harry on one - Hermione on the other, and Ron lying on the floor between them. This routine had been repeated for what felt like an eternity. So at first it was like any other night, wishing for a clue but never receiving it until eventually drifting off into a pointless sleep, waiting for the next droll day to begin. Harry didn't know it yet: but tonight would be very different.

Harry stirred. "Hello?" his sleep thickened voice whispered. Must have been dreaming, he thought, lying back down and closing his eyes. A warm hand slipped over his mouth and clamped down with a firm pressure. His eyes flew open though this didn't do much good; his glasses weren't on and the darkness didn't aid his strain to see the body behind the hand. At first he thought it might have been Hermione, the hand felt small but even though it barely covered his mouth the grasp was strong. Soon he realized it wasn't Hermione and his heart thumped heavily against his chest in panic.

He tried to pry the hand from his mouth with no success. "SHHHH!" an unfamiliar female voice hissed at him as he struggled with her hand. Harry's glasses slid onto his face and the same hand that did so pressed on his chest, pushing him into the couch in an attempt to stop his frantic behavior. He stopped struggling in shock. Death eaters can't apparate in here… why would a death eater put on my glasses? Why am I not dead? Thought's raced through his mind so fast he forgot his glasses were on realized and that he had his eyes jammed shut. He opened them slowly, as if the movement would somehow trigger his attacker.

To Harry's surprise, the unknown intruder looked nothing like he had assumed. In his mind he pictured Bellatrix… or at least a ghastly, evil looking woman towering above him. She appeared to be neither - looking not much older than he was: deep blue eyes pleading seriously that he remains quiet, an expression that was harbored only by the wisest of people, light brown hair falling around her soft neck and flexed shoulders which he now saw were the things controlling his restraint to the couch. He knew he didn't know this person but he knew he recognized her face, from where he could not place. She realized his eyes were open and that he remained hesitant and confused but he wasn't as panicked as he was moments ago. She took the opportunity to lean closer to him. The hand that was on his chest moved to his forearm, restraining but not so intensely that Harry could not over power the restraint if he wanted to, and her upper body hovered carefully above his own as their cheeks grazed each other.

Harry was utterly bewildered in trying to figure out what this unknown girl was doing and whether or not he was really awake. The hand she had on his mouth had loosened its grip slightly but still remained there. Then (Harry realized her intent as she did so) she began to whisper, as not to wake his unknowing friends sleeping inches away he assumed, in his ear. "Harry. My name is Erin. I am not your enemy. I'm sorry for my crude unannounced approach but it's the only safe way we can talk. I will explain everything in time, but for now, all you need to know is that I am here under instruction Sirius gave me before he was killed. I have a message for you. So far I have given no reason for you to trust me, so in a second, I will take my hand from your mouth and put my wand in your hand. We can either go quietly upstairs to let me explain… or you can kill me. Understand?" She pulled back her face so that they were inches apart and locked eyes with him. Harry looked back with curiosity but slowly nodded. Then, true to her word, she removed her hand and opened his: placing firmly in his palm a golden brown wand and then she closed his fingers around it.

Harry sat up eyeing Erin with curiosity and glancing around her, at Ron, then across at Hermione on the other couch. When he had looked at Hermione he caught her very open eyes and realized that she had been awake watching the entire time. Thoughts passed through his mind then: the first being how it must have looked to her, an unknown figure crouching over a panicked Harry in the darkness, hand on his mouth in restraint, and guessing from the proximity of the whispering that just occurred he knew she wouldn't have heard and would not know that the intruder was no threat to any of them. Judging by the aim of Hermione's wand she had been waiting for this mysterious person to be far enough away from Harry for her to get a safe shot. Hermione's spell was barely audible but Harry knew that he would not find out anything if she finished it.

Luckily, Erin was too fast for Harry to react and too fast for Hermione to hit her target. The second Harry had caught Hermione's eye Erin grabbed the front of Harry's shirt and pulled him from the couch with much more force than he thought could come from this slender girl. Harry swung helplessly from the couch like a rag doll, Hermione's stun blasting into the couch where Erin stood a second earlier flipping it over. Ron woke with a yelp of shock and went for his wand. Erin dove, dragging Harry still by his shirt front, forward and they both slid behind the over turned couch avoiding Hermione who was very ready to fire again: sure that she wouldn't miss twice.

Harry knew the couch barricade wouldn't buy the still wand-less Erin much time. As he was about to call out for his friends to halt the emergency attack Erin whispered, "Do you trust them?" "What?" Harry replied not sure he understood - his mind still filled with chaos. "DO YOU TRUST THEM?" She whispered more reverently. It hit him that she meant her attackers, "With my life." She nodded, "If they don't kill me I will explain everything." "Wait, WHAT?" Harry stuttered but it was too late – Erin had stood up wand-less to face the two people that were trying to defend Harry.

"STUPIFY!" Ron and Hermione both cried out desperately. Two powerful red jets slammed into Erin flinging her into the nearby brick mantel place with such force that all the glass frames hung on the wall close by fell with a shattering crash and Erin's unconscious body and most of the broken brick from the mantel, crumpled to the floor. "HARRY!" Hermione cried out as she ran behind the couch where he lay in shock. They crouched beside him, "Blimey Harry, are you alright?" Ron blurted. Hermione seeing that he had no apparent injuries, "Who is that? How did she get in?" A silence followed as Harry stared at Erin who was still unconscious but now bleeding onto the floor. Hermione shook him by the shoulders, "Harry… Harry, are you alright… what did she do to you? What did she want?" He managed to tear his eyes away from the broken body on the floor and gazed into two frightened faces before him. The fog began to fade from his mind, "Uh, Sirius sent her… She… She had a message for me. I think she just… I don't know… She gave me her wand to prove…" Harry's voice trailed off as he opened his hand. It still contained Erin's golden brown wand. "She wasn't armed…" He saw the confusion and horrible regret crossing their faces.

Harry became completely aware of the truth in his own words and snapped out of the daze he had slipped into. He jumped up and slid over to Erin, leaving his friends dumbstruck. Her voice filled his ears as he pushed the broken bricks off and away from her: _If they don't kill me I will explain everything._ "No… No, No, NO, NO, NOOO!" She was face down but he could tell that she was severely injured. Her body lay misshapen and her limbs were placed in odd angles. He put his arms beneath her and rolled her onto her back as gently as he could. There were a few cracking noises that made him instantly nauseous.

"HERMIONE!" He pleaded, not knowing if she could even help. She said something to Ron but Harry couldn't hear it. Ron rushed off so he hoped beyond hope that she had told him to get something that would help. Hermione rushed over, wand at the ready, but then she paused when she saw the deformed body that was bleeding heavily in Harry's arms. Harry looked into her face, wondering why she paused, and instantly regretted doing so. Tears were falling from her pale face which was distorted with the guilt he now knew she was feeling. "Harry… I didn't know…" But before she could go on Harry interrupted, not willing to waste any time, "Hermione, you didn't know, it was the right thing to do, she knew that. Please, just fix her; we need to know what she came to tell me."

Ron showed up out of nowhere with what Harry assumed was whatever Hermione had earlier bade him to retrieve. Ron's face was almost as pale as Hermione's, only lacking in tears that were still glistening on Hermione's cheeks. She began muttering spells over Erin's cuts and breaks while pouring on the potion that Ron had just handed her. Erin was still unconscious when Hermione had finished at least ten minutes later. "Ron, can you go and get a wet rag from the kitchen?" Hermione asked him as she flipped the couch into its rightful position. "Harry…" She said slowly, as if he wouldn't understand his name if it was said to quickly. "Can you put her on the couch?" Only then he knew that she spoke slowly because he had not said a word or moved the whole time. She seemed to look at him with worry that she might have traumatized him in some way. "Oh. Right, Yeah." He said trying to assure her he hadn't lost it. He lifted her easily, which was a surprise to him because of the strength in which she had dragged him around earlier. He was careful putting her down on the couch cushions, worrying unnecessarily that the movement might injure her further.

Hermione accepted the wet cloth from Ron and looked down at the motionless Erin. "Um…" Hermione managed to say, clearly finding it difficult to aid someone she had almost killed moments ago. "I'll get her some clean clothes." She said under her breath before trying to hurry off. "Wait, Hermione, She… She'll be okay right?" Harry said as he took the cloth from Hermione and began to wipe the dried blood from her face. Silence followed and Hermione remained motionless. Harry threw the rag onto the empty seat beside him after doing the best he could to clean Erin off. Harry caught a movement and looked up to see Ron putting a consoling arm over Hermione's shoulders. She met his stare, but he didn't repeat the question. The answer was in her watery eyes. She didn't know. 

Ron sat next to Harry on the couch across from Erin. "How's Hermione?" Harry asked. "She's stopped crying. But if she doesn't wake up soon, I don't think she'll forgive herself." Ron replied. "What about you?" Harry said, "You didn't know either, it wasn't anyone's fault." Harry tried to console him. "Well, I know that. How bloody else were we supposed to react? Still though, I can see why Hermione's upset. Sirius sent her, she was unarmed and innocent as far as we know, and she might have died trying to get you a message. One that might have given us even a damn hint on what we are supposed to be doing and we might have ruined the plan she had." Harry sighed, "Yeah." In the past 3 hours Harry, Ron, and occasionally Hermione had sat in the living room waiting for Erin to wake up. Harry explained to the two what had happened from his point of view and everything Erin had told him and because Hermione pointed it out, he had recognized Erin as a fellow student from his earlier years at Hogwarts.

A soft groan startled Harry and Ron. Harry crossed the distance between the couches in two swift steps. "Erin…" Harry said hesitantly, not sure if she had made a noise or he had just imagined it. Her eyes fluttered open and her mouth turned into a grimace of discomfort as she shifted her weight under the cushions, "I guess I'm not dead then," she slurred out and immediately regretted doing. She put a hand on her ribs gasping in pain. "Ron, get Hermione." Harry said before turning back to Erin. "Oh good, I get to meet the little fire cracker." She said with a grin that didn't fit her face – it being distorted in pain. Harry managed a grin. "That's the spirit." She remarked at his clearly failed smile.

Hermione burst into the room, Ron on her heels. She knelt beside the couch, "I didn't know… I had no idea you were…" Erin cut her off, "No apology necessary. You were protecting Harry. I would have done the same. If I thought you were awake I wouldn't have made myself seem like such a threat. I just needed to talk to Harry and I didn't think I could do it in front of you two, who, unfortunately for me, are rarely apart…" Hermione couldn't remove the upset expression from her face but she appeared visibly lighter now that she was sure she hadn't killed someone. Erin looked at her and smiled awkwardly before she broke the silence, "Could you… fix my ribs though? They feel broken…" Hermione looked relieved at something to do, "Oh, yeah." She said a little flustered. She pointed her wand at where Erin was clutching and a crunch later Erin seemed much less distressed. She took a deep breath, testing for any other injuries. "Looks like you fixed me up pretty good earlier then?" "Yeah, Hermione's good at that sort of thing." Ron said before anyone else could comment. Hermione blushed and shot him a warning look. "Right, well, I guess I have a lot of explaining to do, don't I?" Erin stated to the three very intrigued faces upon her.

"Well, for starters, my name is Erin Black and I'm here because Sirius sent me." Erin said bluntly. Dead silence was cast in the room to allow this to sink in. "Black… you mean, you're… you're Sirius's daughter then?" Ron said in utter shock. "No, Sirius is my uncle. That's why I was able to apparate to the front door, so you don't need to worry about death eaters getting in – your defenses are still intact." Erin stated casually. Harry was sure he had heard wrong, "Sorry… so you're saying that you are Sirius's niece?" "That's correct." Erin stated maintaining a casual tone. "But that would mean that you are…" Hermione began in confusion before Erin cut her off, "Regulus Black's daughter. Yes." The three looked at each other, wide eyed, not sure they knew what they were hearing. "Here, sit down." Erin told them as she got up from the couch and motioned for them to sit where she just was and they did as she asked. Erin pulled a nearby chair over so that she sat facing the three on the couch.

"My mother was very young when she got pregnant with me and her family rejected her for it. Ashamed and afraid to tell Regulus, a budding death eater, that he was the father - she left the country." She said this as fast as she could, clearly wanting to get the awkward explanation over with. "When I was eight, my mother… became sick." She didn't elaborate and none of the three pressed the matter. "She eventually passed and I still didn't know who my father was." A hint of smothered pain slowly became apparent in her voice as her story went on. "A few days later, I sat alone at our home and a knock rapped on the door." Erin's eyes began to water but she fought back the tears. "Sirius told me who he was and who my father was, but how he found out I'll never know." Harry could picture Sirius in the doorway talking to a smaller Erin. "I stayed with him here, he was my only living relative. He taught me everything he knew about magic, for the next 3 years he trained and conditioned me for the mission ahead. Three weeks before my eleventh birthday he was sent to Azkaban. He told me what my mission was: when I went to Hogwarts, there would be a boy: Harry Potter. I was to protect him at all costs as well as collect information but he couldn't know what I was doing."

Ron, Hermione, and Harry all stared at her in disbelief. "I'm sorry… the only reason you went to Hogwarts was to do… what exactly?" Harry almost spat out. "To protect you and monitor your life while I record everything that ever happened there involving you." Erin said quite coolly. Ron sat in quiet confusion, not knowing what to say. "So, you know everything that has ever happened to Harry and all the things that went on at Hogwarts?" Hermione said with great skepticism. Erin sighed dramatically, "Do you three have to repeat everything I say?" "It just seems hardly realistic," Hermione added looking offended. Erin got up, "Hey! Where are you going?" Harry asked as she approached a nearby wall. She said nothing, simply just grabbed her wand from the table and started taking a frame off the wall. "What in the name of Merlin's droopy right…" Ron began to whisper to Harry and Hermione, but before he could finish Erin tapped the withered wall paper beneath the frame and the piece of wall that was just behind the frame dissolved. She reached inside the space in the wall and removed an old dusty case. She waved her wand over the hole in the wall and it filled in leaving no trace there had ever been a secret space.

"This," Erin said as she opened the massive case, "is almost everything I'd gotten." She dumped out hundreds of pages into their laps. Most of the pages slid onto the floor but the ones that remained where they fell, were soon picked up. Harry, Ron, and Hermione began skimming through the pages. "The basilisk? How in the hell did you find out about that?" Ron asked nose to one of the pages in front of him. Hermione had the next page of the same report Ron had been reading, "YOU'RE the one who sent Dumbledore's phoenix to Harry?" Hermione gaped. "What?" Harry asked Hermione, dropping the page about an old quiddich match. "Well, I couldn't exactly let him die could I?" Erin said rolling her eyes. "There are things here that…" Hermione said mostly to herself. "This really is everything isn't it?" Ron said spreading out a few pages titled _Triwizard Tournament._ "How did you manage all this under Dumbledore's nose?" Harry said pushing away what he knew were more reports about the intimate details of his life. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention Dumbledore knew all about it. I think Sirius said it was his idea in the first place. Well, Dumbledore couldn't watch you all on his own you know. He was a busy man." Erin said with a shrug.

Hermione managed to pick her jaw up off the floor and stand. She said nothing just walked toward the kitchen, obviously too flustered to hear anymore. Harry rubbed his tingling scar. "Well.. I'll leave you with your thoughts for a bit then. You clearly need a break." Erin said as she grabbed her wand and jacket from the chair. "Oy! Where do you think you're off to? We haven't even got to ask any questions or get any answers, even if we did believe all this rubbish." Ron yelled at her as she headed for the door. She didn't answer. Harry jumped up off the couch and jogged after her. He caught her arm just before she opened the door, "Will you be back?" She turned to him with a sly grin, "Harry I haven't taken an eye off you for almost 7 years. What makes you think I'll start now?" He frowned but released her arm. She saw he still wasn't sure, "Harry, I have some things to do but I'll never be far. I will tell you everything you need to know, your friends just look like they need some time…" He unwillingly accepted this and stepped back. Erin knew he still wasn't perfectly satisfied with her answers. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small glass ball with what looked like blue smoke inside and placed it in his hand, "If you ever need me." With that she opened the door and was gone leaving nothing but a loud snap in the air.


End file.
